The Broken (2008)
"The Brøken" (original title)

In London, the radiologist Gina McVey organizes a surprise birthday party to her father John McVey with her boyfriend Stefan Chambers, her brother Daniel McVey and his girlfriend Kate ... See full summary »

Director:

Sean Ellis

Writer:

Sean Ellis

Stars:

Lena Headey, Ulrich Thomsen, Melvil Poupaud

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lena Headey	...	Gina McVey
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Dr. Robert Zachman
Melvil Poupaud	...	Stefan Chambers
Michelle Duncan	...	Kate Coleman
Asier Newman	...	Daniel McVey
Richard Jenkins	...	John McVey
Daren Elliott Holmes	...	Simon the Garage Manager
Howard Ward	...	Jim
Damian O'Hare	...	Anthony
Dennis Banks	...	Doorman
In-Sook Chappell	...	Crash Nurse
Peta Longstaff	...	A&E Team
Ziad Alyan	...	A&E Team
Lucy Bingham	...	A&E Team
Marie Flood	...	A&E Team

Storyline

In London, the radiologist Gina McVey organizes a surprise birthday party to her father John McVey with her boyfriend Stefan Chambers, her brother Daniel McVey and his girlfriend Kate Coleman. On the next day, she sees herself driving a car on the street and she follows the woman to her apartment, where she finds a picture of her father and her. While driving back, she has a car crash and loses parts of her memory; further, she believes Stefan is another man. Gina decides to investigate what is happening and unravels a dark reality.

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Plot Keywords:

radiologist | broken mirror | car crash | mystery woman | nightmare | 

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Taglines:

Face your fears.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, brief sexuality/nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Gaumont [fr]

Country:

France UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 November 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

The Broken

Filming Locations:

Bayswater, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gaumont, Left Turn Films, Gaumont International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The inventive spelling of the title reads somewhat silly in Norwegian and Danish since the Ø in broken is a letter in the alphabet in these languages and sounds like the "u" in "burden". In addition "brøken" is the Norwegian and Danish word meaning "the fraction".

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Goofs

Although set in London all the telephones (including old dial phones) ring in the American style.

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Quotes

[Kate and Gina are kneeling down to sweep up the large mirror that suddenly broke during dinner while the men of the family stand by and watch them]
Kate Coleman: [Quietly to Gina] I guess that's seven years back luck then.
Gina McVey: [mischievously whispering] I thought it was seven years bad sex.
Kate Coleman: No, I've already had that.
Daniel McVey: Oi, I heard that.
Kate Coleman: [smiling up at her husband] Baby, that was before I met you.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

If the music played during the first half of the closing credits sounds a bit off, that's because it's being played backwards.

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Soundtracks

"Are You Drunk Enough?"
Written by Martin Phipps

User Reviews

Fear itself is the most frightening

Some people complain that nothing is explained, nothing is revealed in The Broken. They obviously are not capable of figuring things out for themselves.They are used to stereotypal horror crap, in which excited dialogues are alternated with gory so called actions scenes. The Broken is different. It is stylish and visual, relying on fear in stead of gore. If you are sensitive to that and don't think any movie slow that does have less than five bloody victims per minute you will appreciate it. What's more, the plot is incredibly simple: images breaking through the mirrors, taking over and killing the originals. So switch your brains on, rewatch the key scene in which Kate is killed and everything becomes crystal clear.

Now The Broken is far from perfect. The main problem is that it tries to be three different movies. There are a couple of gory scenes, especially the key scene with Kate in the shower. Predictably they are the least frightening. The Broken is also a movie about amnesia and the fear involved when the main character Gina does not entirely recognize her surroundings anymore. The third important theme is identity, indeed similar to Body Snatchers. In the last scene Gina's identity has been taken over as well; that's why her brother Daniel runs.

In my opinion the Broken should have focused more on the amnesia theme, always keeping the question open: is the fear based on reality or based on fantasy connected with the amnesia? It must be a frigging nightmare indeed when you don't recognize your own house (or parts of it) anymore. The identity theme should have remained latent. The director should have cut even more on the gore, which only provides a few anticlimaxes. If you think Texas Chainsaw Massacre intelligent then The Broken is not for you anyhow.

Now the result is a mixed bag. Besides the gore another weak point is the annoying music. On the good side it knows how to build up tension, how to keep the spectator guessing and especially how to reflect fear. As such The Broken is certainly worth watching and in fact shows what horror really should be.